EPK – Derelict – Versus Entropy (2024)
Publicist – Jon Asher – jon[@]ashermediarelations[.]com
Band: Derelict
Album Title: Versus Entropy
Release Date: June 21, 2024
Label: Self-Release
“We think our existing fans will be surprised and happy to hear new music from us. It’s been 12 years since our last full-length, although we teased our return with the Clear Cut single in 2022. I think fans will find that we matured while keeping our core sound. There’s more diversity in what we’ve done here than on older material. Versus Entropy unfolds more or less in two sides, or chapters, with a transition piece in the middle. The first four songs could easily be considered a pure evolution of what we did on Perpetuation. Then track five is an instrumental piece called Attunement that both gives listeners a breather and also opens up even more experimentation. Then the last four tracks feature probably our most brutal song ever, our most Southern song ever, our thrashiest song ever, and our most old-school prog death song ever.” – Derelict
For fans of Revocation, Allegeon, Decapitated, Death, Cryptopsy
Facebook.com/DerelictMetal | Instagram.com/derelictmetal | Youtube.com/derelictmetal
Derelictmetal.bandcamp.com | Apple Music | Spotify
“Derelict are back with a brutal, technical track, “Versus Entropy.”… The new record is nine tracks long and takes on many themes about the diverse and complex human experience, all while showcasing how ripping and heavy their riffs can be. This song is a great first foray into the heavy and nuanced layers they will bring with this release.” – Decibel Magazine
“As song beginnings go, the one at the outset of “Spectrum” is especially electrifying, an amalgam of rapidly quivering strings, savage percussive bursts, and feverishly swirling and wailing guitar solos by Max Lussier and Eric Burnet. The turbocharged intensity stays high with the appearance of vicious snarls and rabid howls, coupled with weaponized drum attacks and swarming riffage, but the song reveals a new dimension as singing joins in with the snarling. There’s more of Lussier‘s soloing too, a head-spinning romp, soon followed by a slithering and menacing guitar arpeggio, as well as further episodes of harmonized singing and fang-baring tirades. The soloing and the singing does bring in elements of “Southern metal”, and gives the song a very distinctive personality.” – NoCleanSinging
“Versus Entropy is a great blend of the band’s influences in old school death, thrash, and prog/technical death metal. Combining their life experiences with world issues and industry matters (Re: Trevor Strnad), Derelict’s June 21st self-released album is a testament to the continuation of a major Canadian death metal project that is worthy of note as it really seeks to show the band’s remaining fervour for quality production and expression along with current world matters that strike a chord with the members, having lived a generation of life away from the grind, only to return with new perspectives and tastes.” – Metal Epidemic
“DERELICT have honed in on their new sound with their latest album “Versus Entropy”. Showcasing that you can produce an amazing album on your own, these guys brought you some truly disgusting tracks… with heavy thick chord progressions that are slammed with blast beats and coated in a tasty bass. This album was disgusting in all the right ways and I look forward to hearing more from them… I would recommend that you go get a copy of their latest album and add it to your collection.8/10” – Metal Temple
“What is in the water in CANADA! I swear they have been putting out some of the sickest bands and albums this year! Derelict has stepped up after twelve years with their latest self- release “Versus Entropy” with 9 tracks of traditional Brutal Tech Shred!! Displaying every bit of refined talent through each track. I personally enjoyed track 5, Titled “Attunement” an instrumental right in the middle of the record, makes perfect sense and helps cleanse your palette for the rest of the album. We get that speedy, yet melodic guitar shed throughout all 9 tracks sure to impress any musician and fan of tech metal. Grab your copy” – Keeper Magazine
“”Versus Entropy” est un beau disque dont les notes méritent de tomber dans des oreilles expertes et ne jamais se disperser dans l’oubli. 4/5″ – Music Waves Fr
““Versus Entropy” is a beautiful record whose notes deserve to fall on expert ears and never disperse into oblivion.4/5″ – Music Waves Fr
“Kind of a deathy thrash. crisp heavy” – 89.9 WORT FM – The Moshpit (Madison, WI)
“An album to seek out for those who tend to enjoy a more technical take on a hard, tight and firm variety of extreme metal.” – The Viking In The Wilderness
“You would think with Canadian Tech death you would know everything that there is to know about the style right… Wrong, Derelict has only put out a few albums but each album is really a Great Masterpiece of the tech death world while still showing off that you don’t need to be Tech death 100% of the time. Every riff serves a purpose, every lead sounds so perfect for the song. Everyone in the band absolutely has technicality and musicianship to an absolute but they know how to write songs at the same time and you match that up with fantastic production and you have one of the standout Tech death albums of 2024. Seriously if you need tech death that is not just pure Tech death give Derelict a chance.” – Heavy Debriefings
“It is speedy, brutal and yet still melodic, inventive in arrangement (especially ‘Attunement’) and well produced. Every instrument is cleanly and clearly discerned and the cymbals are easily listened to without overpowering anything else…. no hesitation in awarding Derelict 9/10… Also, fucking ‘Spectrum’ though. The perfect blend of technical ability and groove. Fucking hell.” – Ever-Metal
“Derelict is back. And how. I really enjoyed it Versus Entropy. I listened to this album with a cautiously optimistic curiosity and after several times I came to appreciate it more and more. The musical experiments on the second part turn out very well, and it is artfully done that you still hear the characteristic sound of the band firmly in it. Cool record and I hope physical copies will be available soon. I’d say give the band a chance if you Revocation, Allegeon, Decapitated, Death, The Black Dahlia Murder and Cryptopsy a warm heart. 84/100” – Zware Metalen
“the band signals their return with the launch of “Clear Cut”. Mixing lightning-quick technical death metal with progressive death metal, impressive audible bass playing, numerous heavy nasty groove excursions, and thrashy gallop-centric sounding riffs all of which coalesce together smoothly into a concise song often bordering on damn near catchy. It’s a bit hard for me to compare the band’s sound to anyone else specifically but suffice to say Derelict has always had a diverse take on technical death metal. In particular, I’m still a huge fan of their second album, Unspoken Words from 2009 as well as their third album, Perpetuation which dropped in 2012.” – Metal Injection – 2022 single Clear Cut
“Perpetuation is the band’s third full-length, and it shows Derelict with an impressive degree of confidence, their LAMB OF GOD-meets-technical-death-metal sound coming through loud and clear, the production bashing and crashing and bringing all the sounds home just right.” – Bravewords – 2012 – Perpetuation
‘Words like “blistering” and “unstoppable” get banded about in press releases for albums all the time, but for Derelict they actually apply, as these twelve tracks are relentless in their dedication to being aggressively heavy at breakneck speeds.’ – Metal Underground, reviewing Perpetuation (2012)
‘In their newest work, DERELICT proves their capabilities as musical masters while maintaining the sheer brutality that is the epitome of all things Death Metal.’ – Metal Temple, reviewing Perpetuation (2012)
‘Perpetuation is a damn solid release and this band is showing they are only getting better.’ – Sea of Tranquility, reviewing Perpetuation (2012)
[Download Album Cover | Download Album Lyrics]
Band: Derelict
Album Title: Versus Entropy
Release Date: June 21, 2024
Label: Self-Release
Track Listing:
1. Versus Entropy – (4:32)
2. Infinite Dread – (4:23)
3. Terminal – (4:02)
4. Workhorse – (3:00)
5. Attunement – (5:05)
6. Dans les Dents – (2:23)
7. Spectrum – (3:59)
8. Derelict – (4:11)
9. The Escapist – (4:15)
Album Length 35:50
Album Credits:
All songs performed by Derelict.
Additional backing vocals on Versus Entropy and Derelict by Jordan Perry.
Writing credits:
Versus Entropy – music: Burnet/Lussier, lyrics: Burnet
Infinite Dread – music: Lussier/Burnet, lyrics Burnet
Terminal – music: Burnet/Lussier, lyrics: Burnet
Workhorse – music: Burnet/Lussier, lyrics: Burnet
Attunement – music: Lussier/Burnet
Dans Les Dents – music and lyrics: Lussier
Spectrum – music: Lussier/Burnet, lyrics: Burnet/Lussier
Derelict – music: Burnet/Lussier, lyrics: Burnet
The Escapist – music: Lussier/Burnet, lyrics: Lussier
Produced by Eric Burnet and Max Lussier
Mixed and Mastered by JF Dagenais
Guitar Engineering by Eric Burnet and Max Lussier
Drum Engineering by Tommy McKinnon.
Bass Engineering by Sébastien Pittet.
Vocal Engineering by Pavlo Haikalis
Album artwork by Cate Francis
Derelict logo and symbol by Mikio Murakami
Member of SOCAN
Canadian Content – MAPL
Lineup:
Eric Burnet (Vocals/Guitar)
Max Lussier (Guitar/Vocals)
Sébastien Pittet (Bass)
Tommy McKinnon (Drums)
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About The Album Artwork
We’ve been working with Cate Francis for all our album artwork since 2009. She always gets exactly what I have in my head. This piece represents the title track, where you see a human figure struggling to resist the inevitable forces of decay, chaos, and death. The idea of ‘versus’ entropy here is that most humans spend their lives trying to halt those processes, to create permanent things or to live forever. And we all fail. And so, like on all our art, the Flame of the Righteous symbol is inside the figure’s chest, representing the internalized negative ideas that are causing this struggling, and linking them to many other negative forces on our other album covers such as religion, capitalism, and state-sponsored violence.
About the album as a whole (LYRICALLY & MUSICALLY):
Existing fans of Derelict will recognize that it’s us right away. We play technical death metal with lots of melody and vocals that are more on the clear in intelligible side (for death metal). That said, we let ourselves experiment and explore on this album. 2012’s ‘Perpetuation’ was full-steam ahead. It didn’t have a single clean passage. While we are very proud of that album, we did not want to do that again. We wanted an album that hits hard, breathes, and ends before you get overwhelmed. We were heavily influenced by the structure of Gorguts’ ‘Colored Sands’ album, where they put a long instrumental piece as the fifth track of a nine-song album. We set out to do something similar and wrote our first full-band proggy instrumental song with ‘Attunement’. It serves as a bridge between two halves of the album. The first four songs probably resemble the Derelict people are most familiar with, but even within that there’s more dynamics and variation. After Attunement, the second half experiments even more. Dans Les Dents is Max’s first song on lead vocals and is probably our most brutal song to date. Spectrum challenges conventions with more of a bluesy / southern metal sound, but the lyrics are about celebrating differences within masculinity by making space for all kinds of identities. The song Derelict is very thrashy and also very cheesy. It’s an ode to the band’s history and I really didn’t hold back on the cheesy and sentimental lyrics. And finally The Escapist, another sung by Max, is very old school and progressive. You can definitely hear Max’s Death and Atheist influences there.
Several of the songs on Versus Entropy explore typical themes for Derelict, those being climate change, social injustice, anger and hopelessness in the face of the capitalist machine, etc. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to avoid those topics entirely, or if I would want to. But there is more emotion and introspection on this album that we had before. Versus Entropy (the song) is about the futile struggle to create something permanent in the face of the natural processes of decay. Infinite Dread is about the feeling of getting lost in a world run by algorithms. The entire second half of the album is about personal and emotional topics that we had never explored before.
Track by Track (LYRICALLY & MUSICALLY):
Versus Entropy – If someone had never heard Derelict before and wanted to get an impression in one song, this would be the one. It’s melodic tech death with some brutal riff breaks, dueling solos, a lovely clean break, and an epic crescendo. The lyrics are about the human struggle to stave off decay and decline, which of course is impossible, and the toll that it takes.
Infinite Dread – Similar to Versus Entropy, this is a tech death song, no questions asked. The verse is in 5/4, which is hard to sing over. The tech bridge in the middle is incredibly fun to play. The lyrics describe the negative impact of having our brains plugged into social media algorithms that in turn feed on us, distilling our fears and desires into products, making content out of our reactions to those products, hyper focusing it all, more and more and more.
Terminal – This is a riffy-er song, definitely taking some inspiration from Revocation, Meshuggah, and Decapitated. It has a nice black metal bridge and an out-of-nowhere breakdown outro. The lyrics compare the fact that our civilization has super-advanced systems for analyzing and tracking the economy, which is a social construct, while we have much fewer systems for analyzing the planet, which is our life support system and is currently in rapid decline.
Workhorse – Tech death with Gorod influences as well as sprinkles of grindcore. Very heavy. Lyrically, this song was inspired by a pipe fitter I met in Hamilton Ontario after attending a labor union meeting. He told me about his struggle to get a unionized position. I said, ‘yeah, I imagine that without a pension it must be difficult to plan for retirement’. He answered, ‘buddy, my retirement plan is a nine-millimeter’. So yeah, Workhorse is an ode to the angry working class who were told to work hard and they’d be rewarded, only to find out that capitalism doesn’t care about them at all. It’s also a warning to our whole society: if people get mad and desperate enough, they’ll revolt, and we’ll have deserved it.
Attunement – The title of this song is a word used in D&D to describe the process of connecting to a magical object to make it yours. We used it as the title for our first ever instrumental to sort of represent the process of connecting to music more naturally and creatively and letting the song become literal whatever it needed to be.
Dans Les Dents – This song was written a while ago. Dans les Dents, which means “In the Teeth” but in English it would be more like “In your face”. It started as a working title but it just matched the music so well. The song deals with social media and the addiction you can get from the immediate gratification that comes from it.
Spectrum – I was listening to a lot of Stevie Ray Vaughan at the time. We’ve always been fans of Southern metal and blues based music but it’s never been apparent in our music. We thought it would be fun to do a Southern style song but run it through a Derelict blender. The lyrics are about inclusive masculinity and openness. This is new territory for us musically and I’m very excited about it.
Derelict – Most of the music for this song was written in the wake of finding out that Trevor Strnad from Black Dahlia has passed away. It got me thinking about the importance of a band to the people in the band itself, and what Derelict meant to me. The song is thrashy, melodic, and anthemic. The lyrics are about the band itself.
The Escapist – Some of these riffs have been around since about 2013. I think it’s a combination of classic Derelict elements like the trem picking and odd time signatures but with a cool type of groove and some exotic gypsy scale breaks and leads. The lyrics are about wanting to escape your reality, be it through substances, media or other avenues. I think this one is both brutal and progressive in equal amounts. I think you could describe the album that way as a whole so we thought it was a nice way to wrap it up.
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FUN FACTS – STORY ANGLES
1. Max Lussier’s partner is Lady Boom Boom, a professional Drag Queen who appeared on Season 3 of Canada’s Drag Race. On one episode of the show, Boom and another contestant have a rather revealing on-camera discussion about Max.
2. Eric Burnet runs his own practice as a therapist as his main career. He originally became a social worker after working with at-risk youth, a job he got using his knowledge and skills as a death metal musician. He likes to say that death metal made him a therapist.
3. Original Derelict drummer Jordan Perry contributed additional backup vocals for two songs on Versus Entropy, the title track and the song Derelict. Jordan left the band due to the time constraints of his own busy music career as a drummer and producer in Saskatoon, but remains close with the guys and maintains an honorary Derelict member status.
4. The members of Derelict live in four different parts of the world. Only Max remains in the band’s hometown of Montreal. Eric lives in Sydney, Nova Scotia. Tommy lives in Vancouver, BC. Sébastien lives in his native Switzerland.
5. When Eric and Max first met with Versus Entropy mixing and mastering producer JF Dagenais (Kataklysm) to discuss the project, what they thought would be a quick technical discussion turned into a two-hour zoom hang where they connected on music and life in general, with Eric and JF benefitting from the rarer occasion to converse in Québécois French and share the experience of living outside of Montreal (JF lives in Dallas).
6. Derelict never declared a breakup or official end to the band, but had been indefinitely on ice since late 2013. It was only in 2021 when Eric and Max were casually discussing their current guitar-playing habits that they got the idea to experiment with writing for the band again. Max sent Eric a riff he had that could work for Derelict. Eric immediately wrote a follow-up riff and sent it back. Max was inspired, and the back-and-forth continued. Within 48 hours they had Clear Cut, the first new Derelict song in a decade. They decided to release it on the 10-year anniversary of the Perpetuation album and reunited that album’s lineup for the project. The song was about the struggle of the Wet’suwet’en Land Defenders and Water Protectors against industrial encroachment on their ancestral territory, as well as the hypocrisy inherent in Canadian society whereby Canadians often see themselves as kind and peaceful all the while being silently complicit in ongoing cultural genocide. Derelict collaborated with a project raising money for the Wet’suwet’en legal defense team and made all proceeds from Clear Cut dedicated to them. The band also collaborated with some of the Wet’suwet’en people to review the song’s lyrics and cover art, gaining their consent to speak about their cause and their approval on the final product.
L-R – Eric Burnet – Vocals, Guitar, Max Lussier – Guitar, Vocals, Sébastien Pittet – Bass, Tommy McKinnon – Drums
QUICK BIO
Originally hailing from Montreal, Derelict rose to prominence with a string of releases and tours between 2005 and 2013. Their trademark sound mixed elements of extreme Québécois bands like Cryptopsy and Beneath the Massacre with influences from American and European acts like Revocation and Decapitated.
After a long hiatus, Derelict returned in 2022 with the ‘Clear Cut’ single, marking the beginning of the second arc of their career. Now in 2024, they’ve released ‘Versus Entropy’, a new full-length album featuring another cutthroat dose of technical death metal that is refined and tempered by the band’s added years of maturity and introspection.
LONG BIO
Originally hailing from Montreal, Derelict rose to prominence with a string of releases and tours between 2005 and 2013. Their trademark sound mixed elements of extreme Québécois bands like Cryptopsy and Beneath the Massacre with influences from American and European acts like Revocation and Decapitated.
Derelict’s efforts during those years were rewarded by consistent college radio charting, a nomination at the 2013 Canadian Independent Music Awards, and performances alongside Whitechapel, Job For A Cowboy, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Decapitated, Cryptopsy, Martyr, Blackguard, Threat Signal, Anonymus, and many more.
Derelict’s first major chapter came to an end in late 2013 when the members decided to put the band on ice indefinitely to focus on other aspects of their lives and careers. It was unclear if they would ever reform.
Years went by. In 2021, by chance, Eric Burnet (vocals/guitar) and Max Lussier (guitar/vocals) were having a casual conversation about music. Eric remarked that it would soon be the 10-year anniversary of their last album, 2012’s ‘Perpetuation’. Max responded that he just happened to have a riff lying around that would work well for Derelict… What if the band released a single for the anniversary?
This led to a reunion of the ‘Perpetuation’ recording lineup and the release of the ‘Clear Cut’ single in 2022. Reinvigorated by the experience of making music together again, this time with a greater dose of maturity and wisdom, the band continued writing with the intent of releasing a new full-length album.
Derelict worked hard for the next two years to create something that would not only satisfy their longtime fans with a cutthroat dose of technical death metal, but also showcase their growth as musicians and people. ‘We’re much less afraid to take chances now,’ comments Burnet. ‘Songs like Attunement and Spectrum would have never made it onto an album twelve years ago because we were very concerned with keeping our style uniform and recognizable. Now, we’re confident enough to try new things through a Derelict filter. I think that letting go of ego and being creatively free made this album what it is’.
2024’s ‘Versus Entropy’ was mixed and mastered by JF Dagenais (Kataklysm). ‘We’ve always preferred working with people from Quebec whenever possible, because our roots are truly in our home province’s scene’, comments Burnet. ‘I’ve been a fan of JF’s work for years, and when we met to discuss this project, we not only spoke the same language (literally), but we really spoke the same language from a musical mindset as well. And his work simply speaks for itself’.
Despite the fact that the band recorded in their respective cities and countries (Vancouver BC, Montreal QC, Sydney NS, and Romainmotier, Switzerland), ‘Versus Entropy’ is their most collaborative album to date. Eight out of nine of the songs were composed by Burnet and Lussier together, and where Burnet assumed some lead guitar duties on the album, Lussier stepped into the spotlight for some lead vocal work as well. “I had written Dans les Dents for Derelict before the split and it stayed with me throughout the years,’’ comments Lussier. ‘I had all the music and lyrics, and when we were writing this album I sent Eric the demo I had recorded at home. He just said “Ok! So you’re doing the lead vocal on that one”. I just told myself “well, ok then I guess.” I had done lead vocals in my old band so it was nice to get back into it. The same thing happened for The Escapist, the closing track. What was also cool is that, kind of in a similar vein, Eric played quite a bit of lead guitar on this album, which he had never focused on as much before. It was all very organic and collaborative despite being a long-distance affair. We had a lot of fun and I think you can hear that on the album.”
Another major difference for Derelict on Versus Entropy was the addition of drummer Tommy McKinnon, a veteran of the Quebec metal scene known for his work in Neuraxis, Akurion, Conflux, and more. ‘Jordan was one of Derelict’s founding members and a big part of our sound’, says Burnet. ‘Knowing we had to find a replacement after he stepped down was nerve wracking. We put together a list of our ideal candidates, and Tommy’s name was the first one at the top. We contacted him and he said yes right away. It’s been an honor working with him. I mean, I grew up on Neuraxis!’
Discography:
2024 – Versus Entropy – album
2022 – Clear Cut – single
2012 – Perpetuation – album
2009 – Unspoken Words – album
2008 – Carry the Flame – EP
2006 – Ideological Prey – album
Shared Stage with: Whitechapel, Job For A Cowboy, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Decapitated, Decrepit Birth, Rings of Saturn, Cryptopsy, Martyr, Blackguard, Threat Signal, Anonymus
Tours and Festivals:
2012 – Eastern Emergency Tour – Canada East Coast
2010 – Northern Shores Tour – Canada Central / West Coast
2009 – Untitled – Canada Central / West Coast
2008 – Untitled – Canada Central / Prairies
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